London Fog—The Biography

For many years, in scientific presentations on the health consequences of air pollution, I have started with a graphic on the London Fog of 1952, showing daily mortality and levels of two air pollutants (smoke—an indicator of airborne particles— and sulfur dioxide) over the several days before, the days of the fog, and several days afterward (Figure 1). By eye, the impact of the air pollution on mortality is dramatic with the death count more than tripling at the peak of the fog. For reference, the air pollution levels were approximately 100-fold greater than in major cities in the United States today. Such dramatic episodes of excess mortality, similarly documented in the United States in Donora, Pennsylvania, in 1948, played a critical role in motivating research on air pollution and clean air legislation in the United Kingdom and the United States. The new book, London Fog, provides sweeping coverage of the London fogs in an account that ranges from the history and sources of the fogs to their impact on art and portrayal in literature and film. Corton, a Senior Member of Wolfson College, Cambridge, brings a new perspective to a saga that has largely been viewed through a public health lens. London Fog’s chapters cover, for example, Dickens’ intertwining of the fogs into his inevitably bleak books set in London. The fogs also were a key back drop for the Sherlock Holmes mysteries and portrayals of the “Jack the Ripper” murders, and lesser known mysteries. Corton also captures the use of the London fogs in movies, such as Midnight Lace, starring Doris Day, which includes a threat against Day made by an assailant invisible in the fog. I was particularly engaged by descriptions of the influence of the fogs on paintings by artists such as Monet. The book is beautifully illustrated with paintings such as Turner’s The Thames above Waterloo Bridge. Corton describes this 1835 painting as one of the first to portray the fog; it was left unfinished because a buyer could not be found. The literary and artistic use of the London fogs speaks to their place in everyday life in London. They were pervasive and noted for centuries, called “pea-soupers” because of their impact on visibility, sometimes so severe as to threaten pedestrian movement and transport. One critical source of the fog that increased for centuries was coal combustion, primarily for residential heating and cooking, along with industrialization. The coal’s sulfur content was substantial and its combustion generated sulfur oxides and the acidic particles from chemical transformations of these gases. Thus, the disastrous London Fog of 1952 was perhaps inevitable, culminating fogs that Corton traces back for centuries. One of the earliest accounts of the fogs was by John Evelyn in Fumifugium; or, The Inconvenience of the Aer and Smoak of London Disappated, published in 1661. Given the severity of the fogs and the understanding of coal combustion as a dominant cause, why was a public health disaster needed to motivate action? The delays reflected the interfering actions of manufacturers and the powerful coal industry. The London Fog of 1952 proved pivotal through the horrifying scale of its consequences. In its aftermath, the government formed the Beaver Committee, which released a forceful, interim report in 1953 that was far more useful than the issuance of masks—completely ineffective protection against urban air pollution—by the National Health Service. The Beaver Committee’s report called for reduction of burning and other measures. The Clean Air Act, motivated by the fogs, was passed in 1956 and led to the implementation of smokeless zones. Air quality improved in London, and the last major fog was in 1962. LONDON FOG—THE BIOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINE L. CORTON